Maha: Leopard strays in residential area, rescued after 8 hrs

A leopard strayed into a residential area in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district on Tuesday morning, triggering panic among people, officials said.

The feline was trapped by forest officials after hectic efforts for about eight hours, he said.

Some morning walkers spotted the big cat in the CIDCO N-1 area shortly after 6.30 am and alerted police and forest officials, he said.

The leopard then wandered into a garden and two vacant houses in the area before being caught from one of those houses.

Six teams were formed and a tranquiliser dart gun was used to trap the carnivore, divisional forest officer R M Sontakke told PTI.

Ramkrishna Gosavi, a resident of Cidco area, who spotted the leopard in the morning, said, "I saw some movement while taking a walk. I thought it might be a pig. But later, the animal jumped a huge height and ran with great speed. That's when we realised it was a leopard."